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thedrifter
01-25-09, 07:01 AM
Brave marines catch Taliban off guard

7 hours ago

Royal Marines used "cunning, determination and bravery" to catch the Taliban off guard in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.

About 120 marines captured a Taliban command post and suspected IED factory, along with a haul of rifles, handguns and ammunition in the three-day Operation Ghartse Palang, nicknamed Lion, in Sangin, Helmand province.

A spokesman for the UK's Helmand task force said the marines battled "dark, wet and freezing conditions over rugged agricultural ground" to launch the operation on the banks of the River Helmand last Monday.

The marines, from 45 Commando Group and other attached ranks, worked with about 30 Afghan National Army troops to push into territory that has, until now, "provided enemy forces with the freedom of movement to launch attacks and terrorise the local population", the spokesman said.

The marines, who came under fire from the Taliban during the operation, "responded with a heavy weight of fire from the full range of their weapons, firing machine-guns and grenades from their under-slung launchers before calling in mortars and 105mm artillery to suppress the enemy and neutralise the threat".

Sergeant David "Tommo" Thompson, of 8 Troop, Y Company with 45 Commando Group, said the troops used "minimal force and maximum care" when clearing enemy compounds.

"We are always aware of the threat of booby traps, IEDs and the enemy within," he said.

Major Richard Parvin, commander of Y Company, added: "The Taliban were clearly caught off guard and were slow to react. When the Taliban woke up and began to realise the extent of the operation they rapidly began to muster weapons and organise an ambush against us as we continued to uncover what they had hidden to utilise against us and the Afghan people."

Lt Col Jim Morris, commanding officer of 45 Company, said: "Yankee company performed superbly. They displayed all the trade mark qualities of the Royal Marines executing this dangerous operation with cunning, determination and bravery."

Details and images of the mission were released for the first time on Saturday.

Ellie

thedrifter
01-25-09, 07:04 AM
Scot in narrow escape from Taliban bomb

Published Date: 25 January 2009
By Sam Reeves in Afghanistan
A ROYAL Marine told yesterday how he had a lucky escape after a Taliban bomb exploded close to him while he was on patrol in Afghanistan.
Marc Holland-Leader, 18, was in Sangin, in the south of the war-ravaged country, when the improvised explosive device (IED) detonated about 20m from him. The marine, from Ballater, Aberdeenshire, said:


"It was just a routine patrol. The blast kADVERTISEMENT
nocked me off my feet."

But Holland-Leader, who is part of 45 Commando, based in Arbroath, escaped uninjured following the attack in December. A fellow marine was hurt in the explosion, but has since recovered.

Holland-Leader, who has been based at a forward operations base in Helmand Province since October, also talked of the difficulties of losing colleagues. Four Royal Marines were killed on one day in December in separate explosions in southern Afghanistan. Soon after this, another marine that Holland-Leader had worked with died. "There were four lads killed on one day, and I knew three of them," he said.

"As much as you want to be out there and doing the job, it made you feel a bit cautious."

But, despite the danger, he believes the 45 Commando is making a difference. "I think we have had quite a positive influence. We have managed to push out into areas we haven't been to." Some local Afghans were now "more willing to talk to us", he said.

Meanwhile, former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown yesterday accused ministers of "wasting the lives" of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan. He said that the international community had failed to put together a plan that could deliver peace and stability in the country, denying troops the ability to take advantage of their military victories over the Taliban.

Ellie